People from the more rural side of exurban counties want to keep the broken down cars in their yard.

People from the more suburban side of the counties want to be able to build their McMansion wherever they want it.

I agree that many people who initially move from urb/suburb to exurb are the traditional "white flighters" (even if they aren't actually white), my only point is that calling more areas "exurb"  isn't going to change the way people in those areas vote.  There seems to be a fear in some liberal corners that the exurban designation itself creates conservative viewpoints.

If we declare the entire nation exurban, the exurban vote breakdown becomes 51-48.

But its still a myth.

I am from the great state of South Carolina, the state that invented secession. (Unofficial Motto: Thank God for Mississippi.)

Around here, (white) conservatives move to the exurbs. They like big houses, big yards, and no city taxes. (SC's annexation laws make it almost impossible for city limits to expand.) (White) liberals tend to prefer older neighborhoods in the cities. African-Americans tend to have their own neighborhoods and suburban areas.

In this red state, family and children are seen as a woman's primary occupation. I recently recieved the local right-wing rag (delivered free to my door!) and it contained several editorials saying that good Christian women should stay at home and homeschool there children. Implicit in these articles (all written by men, might I add) is that a woman is useless without a husband and children. They never mentioned anything about single mothers, including widows, who would have an impossible task of providing for their family while staying at home and homeschooling their kids. (One article on stay-at-home moms WAS written by a woman, but focused on the good of the children, not theological or "family values" reasons. She also addressed this specifically to women who wanted to work, not to those who needed to work.)

Granted, this is an extreme viewpoint, but the basic ideas are very pervasive. People will always marry young, especially if they happen to find their soulmate at a young age. However, around here it is almost expected for people to be married by their mid-twenties, and certainly by age 30.

These views are reinforced by the large number of evangelical "mega-churches" in the exurbs. (Cities tend to have more mainline denominations) These Churches preach a basic theology, traditional values, and a simple, easy to understand black and white worldview that can be easily digested. They are NOT fundamentalists, although they are often mistakenly lumped in with them and may share many common features.

Conservative politicians have been successful in winning this group over by pitching their ideas in a way that logically fits in with this worldview, whether or not it is truly Christian. The liberal viewpoint has not been cast in a way that connects with these people, often times being gray (or black!) when the people want white. Political conservativism then becomes intertwined with faith. The connection between conservative politics and this particular theological worldview can be seen in the fact that too few people in these Churches realize that GWB was not our first "born again" President, but Jimmy Carter was. It can also be seen in the tendency of these voters to vote on percieved "character" and "values", despite solid facts to the contrary.

John Kerry was the worst candidate ever when it came to this group. Fairly or not, he came across as indecisive and out of touch. (He had ONE POSITION on the Iraq War: Maybe.) A gray man like Kerry held no appeal to these black-white people.

Can the Democrats ever win this group? Not without fundamentally changing the debate. War and peace must be reframed as a moral issue. Tolerance must be reframed as a moral issue. Health Care for all must become the new "pro-life" litus test. Corporate corruption should replace personal moral corruption as the outrage de jour.

This is a rather rambling post, so forgive me. My point is that the Democrats can win (or at least NOT get blown out) in these areas while not playing Republican-lite.